


Orange Kisses

by chicago_ruth



Category: Original Work
Genre: Death, Gods, M/M, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 10:46:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20947067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chicago_ruth/pseuds/chicago_ruth
Summary: “Have you considered just… not dying?”Xavier didn’t answer. It would have been hard to answer, considering the deep stab wound in his chest. He saw the threads of his own life unwinding, growing thinner and thinner. They would snap soon, and his power would be passed on to another life.





	Orange Kisses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Etnoe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Etnoe/gifts).

“Have you considered just… not dying?”

Xavier didn’t answer. It would have been hard to answer, considering the deep stab wound in his chest. He saw the threads of his own life unwinding, growing thinner and thinner. They would snap soon, and his power would be passed on to another life.

Sitting in his blood next to him was Crow, the knife balanced in the tip of his finger.

“Because you absolutely could. There’s nothing that says you _have_ to cut your own cord. It’s inconsiderate of you, doing this every time I catch you.”

Crow wasn’t wrong, but Crow wasn’t right either. If Xavier refused to cut his own thread, it would be akin to killing himself for real. He truly would lose himself, and he would be neither dead nor death. An immortal without purpose was only a shade, not a god.

He opened his mouth when Crow pressed their lips together, and he tasted blood and oranges. Always the damned oranges. They were Crow’s favorite food, and it was impossible for Xavier to escape the association.

In this life, too, he’d inexplicably found the taste of oranges nostalgic and infuriating all at once, addicted to their taste in one moment and hating it the next.

“Why don’t you say anything?” Crow demanded when their lips parted. He placed his hand over the wound, drenching skin and feathers alike in blood. “Didn’t you miss me?”

_Yes, of course_, and _no, not at all_. Xavier had wandered the world on his own, giving comfort to those on their last breath, and missing the person who would be with him in those last moments. It would be nice to wander with Crow at his side, to laugh and kiss and fuck without any cares in the world.

But Xavier was Death, and even another god wouldn’t be able to abide by his touch for long. It would start with just a little fraying of the thread, a spot that was just the smallest bit thinner. Not noticeable if you didn’t have an eye for such things, but Xavier had the eye for it and more.

Every encounter would loosen another line of the thread, and what was once impervious could now creak and threaten to snap.

Crow was already half frayed.

It wouldn’t take much at all to cut it entirely. Every time they met, it became harder and harder to resist the urge. The Death called to him, and Xavier didn’t want it. He wanted Crow alive and smiling, chasing him across the earth, until the moment when they met up and the choice was either to kill Crow or to kill himself.

Crow lay down next to him and settled his head on Xavier’s chest. It hurt, but Xavier welcomed it too. This was Crow, his Crow. They’d see each other again at least one more time. At least twenty more times.

“We danced, last time, before you poisoned yourself. I liked that. You didn’t even give me a dance this time. I’m really starting to think you don’t love me. Should I stop chasing you? Should I chase somebody else instead?” Crow’s hand lifted up and dripped blood right back down.

“I do—” Xavier said, wheezing. “I do love—”

The core of himself, that which made him Death, was ready to move to the next host. It would be another forty or fifty years before they saw each other again. It would be another fight to stay one step ahead, always on the move, taking life and hoping never having to take _that_ life.

Crow laughed. His feathers sagged under the weight of Xavier’s blood. “You never say that unless you’re dying. Stop it. Just for once, let me hear the full sentence.”

Not this time. The only time Crow would hear it would be the day Crow died.

Xavier reached with his true self and cut his own cord.


End file.
